The studio is located outside the beautiful town of Charlevoix, Michigan, about one mile from Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Autumn Leaves Towels Are Completed

Last October, I made a long warp for towels. My inspiration was the beautiful fall colors on the trees in Michigan and was why I named the towels Autumn Leaves. I was able to finish four of the towels before Christmas and they became Christmas gifts for my daughters.

I put the warp on my Leclerc Jano table loom, and after the first towel, I removed the two outermost stripes. It was just too wide for the loom. The next three towels wove a little better.

After cutting the first four towels off the loom, I retied the warp and started what I hoped would be five or six more towels. As the warp decreased on the loom, it became easier to weave. I cut a few more towels off and continued to weave the rest of the warp. Each batch got easier. I'm not sure if it was because of less warp on the loom, or I just got into a routine with the weaving.

I finished the last towels a few days ago. The were wet finished, dried, pressed and hemmed, and then they were posed for a photo. All of the towels were woven as checks with a single color except for the last one. I had a little fun playing around with the block sizes, and I used all eight colors instead of just one. I think I like that one the best! It was a good way to empty all the bobbins of the yarn left on them.

Now, I am back out in the studio weaving a rug, and thinking about more rugs to follow.

I started with the intention of doing a rug with dark cloth strips in a twill pattern, but couldn't find the fabrics I wanted to use, so I went back to doubled threads in an almost tabby. I am using up more polyester doubleknit strips I had sitting around in a box from an old braided rug attempt from many years ago. Yea stash reduction! This one is going quickly, but is not on my Weaver's Delight, so it is a little harder on my arms and shoulders. I should have it done in a few days.

Hopefully, by the time this rug is complete, I will come up with fabrics to try my other design plan. The way this is threaded, I can weave x's and diamonds, and they show up especially well in the white stripes. I think it will make a distinctive rug.

8 comments:

I love the towels a lot - like the vertical striping. Love the colors too - fun. I'm thinking about another rag rug when I finally clear a loom. When they're so much work, I can't believe I keep coming back to them. I sure like yours and hadn't thought of using knits.

Sharon, I certainly see towels from the pattern popping up a lot. I think the main appeal is they look more difficult than they actually are. And also it is a single shuttle weave. That was the selling point for me. I love checks, but hate changing colors after weaving just a short distance.

About Me

It has been a dream of mine to learn weaving, ever since I was a child. My opportunity came early in 2005, when my sister-in-law let me borrow her countermarche loom. I had a couple friends help me understand the loom and get me started. Those first couple projects were exciting for me. I realized there was a lot to learn, so I signed up for Weaver's Boot Camp at Heritage Spinning and Weaving, in Lake Orion, Michigan. The class was great, I met a wonderful circle of weaving friends, and it pushed me into areas that would have taken me years to explore if I had been learning on my own.